The Worlds Fair Sheep Shows opened
on October 5, 1904. The sheep show was described as the largest and
best show ever held anywhere in the world. The best sheep from two
continents were shown - 2,294 head.

The sheep exhibitors arrived to
find that their pens were not quite ready. Many of the stalls had
not been cleaned out from the recent cattle shows. Also, fair
carpenters were trying to put gates on the cattle stalls, converting them
into pens that would be necessary for sheep. This job was not
complete when the sheep arrived, so those shepherds with some
carpentry skills quickly made their own gates.

The sheep shows went rather
smoothly, but the first controversy was about the location of the actual
shows. The sheep shows were scheduled to be held in the large
Livestock Forum which was some distance from the sheep barn. Sheep
exhibitors protested that they could not be expected to lead (or drag)
their animals all the way to the Forum since sheep are not shown with
halters like cattle and horses are. However, the fair management
prevailed and all shows were held in the Forum as planned. It was
later noted that there were few problems in getting the sheep to the
Forum. However, it was also noted that there were few spectators in
the stands of the Livestock Forum during the sheep shows.

Large amounts of money had been
invested by some exhibitors in order to insure a winning entry. However,
when some high-dollar animals did not win as expected, those exhibitors
complained. Protests were lodged against the judges of the
Shropshire, Hampshire, Oxford and Southdown shows. One magazine described
the show scene - "a more ferocious lot of kicking was never seen in a
show yard. The atmosphere was simply blue with it's fumes.
Whispers of judges being 'fixed' were quite common."

Champions on display
in the Livestock Forum

The biggest problem of the sheep
shows involved the Fair's shearing rule. The rule was that "all
sheep and goats must have been evenly, closely and properly shorn on or
after the first day of April 1904." Each exhibitor was required to
sign an affidavit that the rule had been followed. Obviously, some
exhibitors signed the affidavit, but had not followed the rule. The
American Sheep Breeder magazine commented, "Some of the exhibits carried
abnormally long fleeces considering they were shorn after April 1.
What fleeces they must have at a year's growth!" Two fine wool
flocks were disqualified because of excessively long wool on their
entries. The rule was not enforced at all on the mutton breeds
because wool was not considered important in such meat breeds.

The premier
championship was a highlight of the sheep judging.

The October St. Louis weather was
just perfect for the sheep shows. The rains that plagued the horse and
cattle shows ended and the sheep shows were held during beautiful "Indian
Summer" weather.